Author: bbrunke

The Difference Between What Hip Looks Like and What Hip Is

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I saw this article today and thought the writer makes some great points. In the church we have also fallen into the “hip” trap and this writer nails the difference. When I arrived here in Georgia to join the staff of Velocity, one of the arenas that i was thrust into was the website design. I kept coming back to the question of,”does it just look cool or does it work for us?” In the end it was both but I was brave enough to poise the question. I also liked this comment,

“Your call is important to us”: unless it isn’t, in which case we’ll continue to ignore you for (pause) five more minutes. We can all agree, I hope, that showing people they’re important to us, right here, right now, than it is to play them a recording of someone who just says it.”

Let’s face it…ministry is all about people and we need to not just talk about how we are here to meet them where they are but also show them that we care.

We have lift off!

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lift off

Velocity Church officially launched yesterday with 96 in attendance. It was a very exciting day for everyone inloved. A large majority of the faces that we saw yesterday were first time attenders who either heard about Velocity through our marketing or were invited to attend by someone involved in Velocity. I pray that God will bless our efforts as we move forward and that he begins to build a movement of people in our area who will catch our vision and put in action our desire to reach this community with the love of Jesus Christ. Amen

First Turbo Group

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First Velocity Turbo Group
First Velocity Turbo Group

Last night Melissa and I hosted our first Turbo Group at the house. For the next six weeks we will exploring together what it means to be a Connection Group Leader and at the end of that time, it is my hope that we can launch our Connection Group ministry with some leaders already in place. I am encouraged and excited from our meeting last night! I believe that God has placed some gifted people in Velocity who have a heart to see people connect in relationships that produce life change. I invite you to be praying for our group over the next six weeks and to consider joining a connection group when they launch later this fall.

How are you measuring up?

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We live in a time when everything has to be measured, studied, calculated, and analyzed. There is a great deal of advantages to this but it also begs the question, “what is the measure being used?” The other question that is being asked is, “How do I measure up to the standard?”In ministry it is often difficult to ask these questions and get an answer.

In my reading this morning, the prophet Isaiah writes, “I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line…” The of God, Isaiah says were to be measured by their sense of justice and their righteousness. In Isiah’s time, most people did not excel in either of those areas. I wonder what he would say about us? Are we showing justice by meeting the needs of people who can not often help themselves (i.e. the widows, orphans, poor, crippled)? Is our righteousness being conformed into the image of Christ? Are we taking the steps necessary to become more Godly?

Many people look to the pastors of the church to help them to become more righteous by increasing their knowledge of scripture and offering them programs to demonstrate justice. Is this really what we are called to do as pastors? I would offer the suggestion that we are not called to this, but what we are called to is a life of service and of leadership. So how are we to become righteous and practice justice? Simple, we must look to our relationship with Jesus and begin to allow him to work in our lives to become more Godly. It is then we will see through his eyes injustice and be broken and moved to fight it!

As we prepare to launch Velocity, I find myself drawn to this very fact: God is going to build his church and all that I can do is to pray and to serve and lead the people that he sends to us. It is my hope and prayer that these people will become more Godly not because of what I have done on my own but because they have fallen in love with Jesus Christ and he is leading and teaching them to be righteous and practice justice. How do we measure up? Let’s ask that question again in six months and yet again in another six months and again until we are put to the ultimate test on the other side of the world. Amen

Don’t Assume you are the Good Soil

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As I wrote about previously, I am reading a great book right now called “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan. He retells the story of the parable of the sower from Luke 8. He then makes this statement that for me cut to my heart:

“I think that most American churchgoers are the soil that chokes  the seed because of all the thorns. Thorns are anything that distracts us from God. When we want God and a bunch of other stuff, then that means we have thorns in our soil. A relationship with God simply cannot grow when money, sins, activities, favorite sports teams, addictions, or commitments are piled on top of it.”

Chan makes a great observation here! We need to be living a life that shows the world that there is something different about us.

Love Reading

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I have recently began to read two books that share a similar theme, “love.” Now before you think I am reading one of “those” books, let me tell you that the love that these books are talking about is love for Jesus and how it should compel us to live.

The first book is “Compelled by Love” by Ed Stetzer and Philip Nation. The subtitle of the book is “the most excellent way of missional living.” This book is very christo-centered and reads like one of my textbooks from seminary. It is very well written but extremely scholarly.

The second book that I am reading is “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan. Chan’s book is not as scholarly written as Stetzer’s but nevertheless the theme of the book is very similar.

I think it is not a coincidence that both of these authors are writting on a similar subject that the church needs to hear. We need to fall deeper in love in Jesus and allow him to change our lives so that the lives we live better reflect him living through us. Our world is sick and tired of the church telling people that Jesus loves them and that he can make a difference in their life and then not living our lives like he has made a difference for us! The statistics bear this out: Christians are just as likely to get a divorce, cheat on their wives, look and become addicted to porn! Church we need to start living like their is something different about us or we lose our message to preach to the world.

I am excited to be challenged by these books and also to be convicted by them as well.

God, I pray that I will fall deeper and deeper in love with you and that my life will reflect a change that you have made and continue to make in me as I live for you. Amen

Becoming Multi-cultural

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A few years ago, I heard Erwin McManus speak at Catalyst about how the church can become more multi-cultural. He said that it starts with people reaching out and making friends with people who are not of the same culture and race as themselves. At the time, I agreed with his statement and vowed to put it into practice when given the chance. That time has now come!

I am a homeowner now which means that I live in a neighborhood with other people. As I am discovering my new neighbors do not all look like me. This is a tremendous blessing and an opportunity. For most of my life, I have lived with and around people who look like me. Now for the first time, I live in a city and an area where many of the people around me do not look just like me. Yesterday, I met two of my neighbors: Erica is a nurse and her husband Brandon is a cop and they are African American. Sydney is my other neighbor and he is African American. Looking across our street I see another neighbor who is also African American. I find myself for the first time as a minority and I am happy to be so. I must force myself to make relationships with my neighbors because my Lord Jesus ask me to! The church can only truly be a reflection of Jesus when it is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural. If the church is going to be the hope of the world, and look past race and nationality to bring all people together under the lordship of Jesus Christ, then we who are apart of it must not be afraid of what it could look like. Amen.

Question for my readers: how is your church seeking to become more multi-cultural? How are you becoming more multi-cultural?

Unpacking

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After the “big push” over the weekend to get all of our stuff into the house, we are now left with the reality of opening what seems like an endless amount of boxes. Forcing yourself to open one more box and then you will quit has become our mantra. To add to the stuff that we have already brought into the house, last night we made our first trip to the grocery store. Having been a regular shoppers at Aldies and Meyer in Cincinnati, we are now having to become Kroger shoppers because it is the closest store to the house. We proceeded to walk up and down every isle in the store because we did not know where anything was! Perhaps the coolest part of the evening was pulling into our own garage and unloading our food without having to clime two or more flights of stairs. After making a couple of adjustments, we were able to pull both cars in the garage last night and I took a picture.

It is still very surreal that we own our own home but I am amazed at the little things that I am finding delight in. Renting and not owning for a long time makes you feel all the more blessed when you finally do buy a home. So its back to unpacking boxes tonight after work….”honey have you seen that one box?” lol!

Who’s to Blame?

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Boy do we humans love the blame game! As I have been reflecting back on our dealings with the wife’s new employer and our mortgage company is it easy to say that it was “so and so’s” fault. This past weekend as we set up Velocity for the first time in our temporary home at Baggett we could have played that game as well and we may have to some extent as we struggled to overcome the time constraints that were upon us.

As a husband I often find it easier to blame my wife for things that take responsibility for my own actions! That last sentence hurt a bit but it is the truth. Our culture has become very good at blaming others for our mistakes and shortcomings.

In my reading this morning, I read this from the book of Job.

Job 1:22

“In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”

If you remember the story of Job; he was a righteous man who God allowed to be tested to prove to Satan that he was a man of integrity and would not curse God under direst. In a matter of moments Job had his family and all of his possesions taken away from him and his response,

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart. [c]
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.”

if there ever was someone who deserved to complain a bit it was Job but instead he praised God.

I believe that there is a great lesson to be learned in this…take responsibility for yourself and do not blame others for what is happening to you! Despite the inconvenience of living out of a suitcase for a couple of weeks down here,  the wife and I are far better off than most people in the world. The reality is that there is really no one to blame for what happened! Now I could easily find someone to blame and cast my ire upon but is it really worth it? Sure I will feel better, but the situation will not be any different.

So here are my words to live by for today, “don’t play the blame game!” Take a long look at yourself first, praise God for his blessings, and pray for the strength for the test that lies ahead because it is coming. God deals with us according to His sovereignty, how we react to him demonstrates our commitment, maturity, and attitude.

Praise be to God who has given me so much and has allowed me to be here in Douglasville to serve his church! The blessing of becoming a homeowner is almost upon me. I pray that I might be a good steward of what you have given to me. Amen.

Be Strong and Courageous

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Joshua 1:6-9

“6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Yesterday, Paul and I attended a luncheon of local Douglasville preachers and ministers. A local pastor who served as our host read this passage of scripture from Joshua as a devotional thought to us. I was mediating on this verse this morning and I believe that these words have significance for the leaders of Velocity.

Planting a church is one of the most difficult things to do in ministry. In the same ways that God told Joshua to be “strong and courageous” because the task of leading the people of God into the promise land would be very difficult so it will be for us. I see three keys in this passage:

1)It will take strength and courage if we are to be successful in establishing a church that is concerned about the lost and is outwardly focused. Courage to try something new and out of the ordinary and strength to stick to our convictions and values when we are criticized and challenged.

2) It will force us to “keep the book of the law on our lips; mediating upon it.” Reading and mediating upon scripture is a learned activity and does not come easy. As leaders we must train ourselves to spend time each day connecting with God. I can think of no greater weapon than the Word of God.

3) It will require God to go ahead of us as he did with Joshua. He has already has! Why do we continue to doubt that he is the God who does not go back on his word? Lord I pray that he would increase my faith so that I can pray with confidence that he has given to me all that I ask and require. He has also promised to go with us and tonight at 7pm we will gather as a team to walk and to pray that God will continue to go ahead and with us as we plant Velocity Church. Amen!